1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to article surveillance systems and, more particularly, to a point of sale (POS) electronic article surveillance (EAS) system.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional EAS systems with EAS pedestal systems that are positioned at the ingress/egress locations of a retail store are well known have been used for a number of years. Regrettably, placement of the EAS pedestal systems only at the entry/exit location of retail stores does not provide a sufficient protection for the protected items. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a shopper 102 may include hidden tagged merchandise 110a inside their clothing while including other merchandise inside a shopping cart 104. The shopper 102 may unintentionally place one or more small, EAS tagged items 110b at the bottom of the shopping cart 104, with several EAS larger items 110c at the top thereof. The shopper 102 may also intentionally hide smaller tagged items 110d within a EAS larger tagged item 110c. In either instance, the sales clerks may neutralize an EAS tag of the EAS larger tagged items 110c but without noticing the hidden EAS tagged item 110a, smaller EAS tagged items 110b at the bottom of the cart 606, or EAS tagged item 110d within the EAS larger tagged item 110c. In such an instance, shoppers pay for the scanned larger EAS tagged items 110c, but not the inconspicuous and intentionally hidden smaller items EAS tagged item 110a, EAS tagged item 110b, and or the EAS tagged item 110d. Of course, the EAS tagged smaller items 110a, 110b, and 110d not neutralized trigger an alarm when the shoppers 102 pass through the entry/exit EAS pedestals systems. However, in most instances, it is a general retail policy to not follow a shopper outside the retail store and in fact, in most cases the sales clerks are under the false impression that they have neutralized all tagged items correctly (as all visible tagged items were neutralized), and interpret the triggered alarm as a false alarm, allowing the shopper (who may be part of an organized retail crime) to simply exit the store without paying or processing the smaller EAS tagged items 110a, 110b, and 110d. 
Accordingly, in light of the current state of the art and the drawbacks to current EAS systems, a need exists for an EAS system that would allow detection of EAS tagged items at a point of sale to thereby prevent shoplifting and organized retail crime.